When did I Post That? How do we Access Memory-for-When on Social Media?

Strategies for accessing temporal information of autobiographical memories may differ based on the qualities of the target memory. Distance-based models propose dating occurs through accessing a decaying strength of a memory, whereas location-based theories suggest it’s achieved through reconstruction of contextual details. Source element availability and high temporal fidelity requirements may bias participants toward location-based strategies. The present study utilises participants' social media posts and emails as cues in an experience sampling study to encourage distance-based strategy utilisation. Thirty-four participants indicated the week, day-of-week, and time-of-day of their Gmails and Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram posts from the 4 weeks preceding their memory test. Results showed that error scores decreased with larger time scales and errors in week judgements increased with proximity to week boundaries and the correct response. All findings suggest that people can rely on the strength of memories to judge the age of emails and social media posts.